Multidisk containing player including magazine having a housing with separable upper and lower half portions

ABSTRACT

A multidisk containing player comprises: a playing device including a turntable, a pickup, and a disk clamp mechanism, the playing device being provided within a player housing, a magazine accommodating a plurality of disks and being removably mounted on a mounting portion as installed within the player housing, and a transfer mechanism for transferring the playing device toward a disk to be played and loading the playing means to the disk to be played. The magazine includes a housing having an upper half portion and a lower half portion, the two portions being separate from each other.

This magazine includes a housing having an upper half portion and alower half portion, the two portions being separate from each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a disk player and, more particularly,to a multidisk containing player which can accommodate multiple datarecording disks (referred to simply as "disks"), and is capable ofselecting any of the disks and playing the selected disks in successiveorder.

The multidisk containing player has been known and is disclosed inJapanese Patent Un-examined Publication No. 64-52250, for example. Theplayer comprises playing means including a turntable and a pickup, amagazine accommodating a plurality of disks and being removably mountedon a mounting portion as installed within the player housing, themagazine accommodating a plurality of disks arrayed in the directionorthogonal to the disk carrying surface of the turntable, and a diskpickup/transfer mechanism which selectively picks up one by one thedisks as contained in the magazine, transfers the selected disk onto theturntable, and retracts the disk from the turntable into the magazine.

In such a multidisk-containing player, when a selected disk istransferred from the inside of the magazine to a playing location, i.e.,a turntable, the disk is moved in two directions, a direction parallelto the disk carrying surface of the turntable, and a directionperpendicular to such a direction, i.e., the direction in which disksare arrayed within the magazine. The transfer of the disk in the twodirections is carried out by a disk selecting and transferringmechanism. To be more specific, either the playing means containing theturntable or the magazine is held by a movable carrying member Themovable carrying member is driven, by a drive means, to bereciprocatingly moved in the disk array direction. This effects themovement of the disk in the disk array direction.

For the movement of the disk in the direction parallel to the diskcarrying surface of the turntable, the following construction isemployed.

As shown in FIGS. 28 and 29, the magazine is made up of a housing 251that is shaped like a parallelepiped as a whole and serves as a mainbody of the magazine, and a plurality of plate-like trays 254. The trays254 are arrayed orthogonal to the disk carrying surface of the turntable(the direction of an arrow Z and its opposite direction), within thehousing. The trays are rotatable about a support shaft 252 extending inthe disk array direction. A disk is set on the main surface of each ofthe trays 254. Each tray is ejectable from and retractable into thehousing along the main surface. Thus, by merely ejecting each tray 254carrying the disk thereon out of the housing 251, the disk 253 istransferred in one direction (parallel to the disk carrying surface ofthe turntable).

A tray push member 256, shaped like an L, is rotatably provided on theside of the magazine. The tray push member engages one of the trays 254,and pushes the tray outside the housing 251 A slide member 257, which isdisposed close to the magazine, is movable rectilinearly andreciprocatingly The slide member 257 engages at its tip 257a with thetray push member 256. When driven by a drive means (not shown), theslide member applies a rotational moment to the tray push member 256,thereby turning the tray push member. As shown in FIGS. 29 and 30, apair of pins 256a is formed on the tray push member 256 The pins 256aare slidably coupled with semi-circular guide grooves that are formed inthe movable carrying member (not shown) carrying the playing means. Whenthe pins slide in and along the guide grooves, the tray push member 256is guided and turned.

Each tray 254 is relatively moved and positioned with respect to theturntable in the tray array direction by reciprocatingly moving themovable carrying member carrying the playing means containing theturntable, the pickup, and the like, in the direction in which the trays254 are arrayed (arrow Z and its opposite direction). The disk 253 onthe tray is positioned on the turntable in such a manner that the traypush member 256 is turned to push and eject a desired tray 254 out ofthe magazine.

As described above, to load any desired disk with the conventional frontloading disk players, this would include transferring the disk whosesurface area is large. As a result, it is necessary to secure spacelarge enough to move the disk within the player housing, and this makesit difficult to reduce the size of the player.

Further, there is a growing demand in recent years for a front loadingdisk player which can be mounted close to the driver of a car. However,the space allowed for the player in the vicinity of the driver is sosmall that it is difficult to respond to the above demand by onlyemploying the conventional construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems andhas, therefore, as an object the provision of a front loading diskplayer which is extremely small in structure.

A multidisk containing player according to the present inventioncomprises: playing means including a turntable, a pickup, and a diskclamp mechanism, the playing means provided within a player housing, amagazine accommodating a plurality of disks and being removably mountedon a mounting portion as installed within the player housing, and atransfer mechanism for transferring the playing means toward a disk tobe played and loading the playing means to the disk to be played.

The magazine comprises:

a housing including an upper half portion and a lower half portion, bothportions being separable from each other; and

a plurality of plate-like trays being arrayed within the housing andejectable from and retractable into the housing along the main surfacesof the trays, the trays respectively carrying data recording disks onthe main surfaces.

The transfer mechanism comprises

separating/positioning means for separating the upper and lower halfmembers, selecting the tray carrying a desired disk from among thetrays, carrying the selected tray, and for separating the selected trayfrom the remaining trays in the direction orthogonal to the main surfaceof the tray to position the selected tray;

movable carrying means for carrying the playing means;

a support shaft supporting the movable carrying means being swingablebetween an insertion position, which allows the movable carrying meansto be inserted between the trays, and a noninsertion position in thedirection orthogonal to the tray separation direction, and the movablecarrying means being movable along the axis of the support shaft; and

drive means for swinging and moving the movable carrying means.

In the front loading disk player thus constructed, upon the generationof the playing instruction for playing a desired disk from among thetrays in the magazine which is inserted in the front loading diskplayer, the upper half portion and the lower half portion, acting as thehousing of the magazine, are separated by the separating/positioningmeans. At this time, the tray carrying the desired disk to be played isalso moved in the direction orthogonal to the main surface of the trayso as to separate the other tray. Next, the movable carrying means ismoved along the support shaft so as to position it to a positioncorresponding to the separated trays and is swung about the supportshaft so as to insert it between the trays, so that the playing meanshaving the turntable is loaded to the disk. Thereafter, they are clampedby the disk clamp mechanism, and the pickup is operated to start theplaying of the selected disk.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a multidisk-containing playeraccording to the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a diffusely exploded perspective view and a plan view,respectively, including a partial section of a magazine employed in themultidisk-containing player;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views respectively taken along lines IV--IV and V--Vof FIG. 3 including partial sections thereof;

FIG. 6 (a) is a plan view of a tray contained by the magazine shown inFIGS. 2 to 5; FIGS. 6 (b) and (c) are views respectively taken alonglines VIb--VIb and VIc--VIc of FIG. 6 (a);

FIG. 7 (a) is a plan view of another tray contained by the magazineshown in FIGS. 2 to 5; FIGS. 7 (b) and (c) are views respectively takenalong lines VIIb--VIIb and VIIc--VIIc of FIG. 7 (a);

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged perspective view of the magazine shown inFIGS. 2 to 5;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the internal mechanism of themultidisk-containing player shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 10 to 12 are sectional views respectively taken along lines X--X,XI--XI, and XII--XII of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are an enlarged perspective view and an enlarged view,respectively, showing part of the internal mechanism shown in FIG. 9;

FIGS. 15 and 16 are views respectively taken along lines XV--XV andXVI--XVI of FIG. 9 including partial sections thereof;

FIG. 17 is an enlarged view including a partial section of part of theinternal mechanism shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a control system of themultidisk-containing player shown in FIGS. 1 to 17;

FIGS. 19 to 21 are flow charts for explaining the operation of themultidisk-containing player shown in FIGS. 1 to 17; and

FIGS. 22 to 27 are diagrams for explaining the operation of themultidisk-containing player shown in FIGS. 1 to 17.

FIGS. 28 and 29 are respectively a front view and a sectional plan viewof the conventional magazine.

FIG. 30 is an enlarged plan view of a member for operating theconventional magazine shown in FIGS. 28 and 29.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A description of a multidisk-containing player which is an embodiment ofthe present invention will be described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

The multidisk-containing player has as a main portion a player housing 2which is removably inserted and loaded into a space for holding itthrough an insertion opening formed, for example, in a dashboard (notshown) of a car. The front portion of the player housing, i.e., a frontpanel, is exposed to the outside of the holding space.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front panel 3 forming the front portion of theplayer housing 2 has a rectangular insertion opening 3a for insertingand loading a magazine 5 in a loading section inside the player housing.The insertion opening 3a is horizontally elongated. In the figure, arrowX indicates a direction to the left and arrow Y a frontal direction asviewed from the origin O. Arrow Z indicates an upward direction.Although not shown in the figure, the front panel 3 is provided with anoperation unit for operating the multidisk-containing player and adisplay unit for displaying the operational condition or mode and likeinformation of the player.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the magazine 5 has a generally flat,rectangular-pillar-like housing consisting of an upper member 6 and alower member 7 which are separable from each other and has two kinds .of substantially rectangular-plate-like trays 11 and 12, each of whichis arrayed within the housing and can carry a disk 9 on the main surfacethereof. The lower member 7 is formed merely as a substantiallyrectangular plate so as to form only the bottom portion of the housing,while the upper member 6 combines the rectangular plate main portion anda suspended portion extending downward around the periphery thereofintegrally therewith so as to constitute both the top and lateralportions of the housing.

The tray 11 consists of three pieces and the tray 12 consists of twopieces, and they are alternately arrayed. The trays 11 and 12 have roundholes 11a and 12a, respectively, at a corner thereof, and, as shown inFIG. 2, these round holes are smoothly fitted with a cylindrical member14 projected on the inner wall of a corner of the lower member 7. Thus,as is apparent from FIG. 3, each tray can turn around this cylindricalmember 14, thereby being made projectable and installable with respectto the housing comprising the upper and lower members 6, 7. As isparticularly clear from FIGS. 6 (a) to (c) and FIGS. 7 (a) to (c), thetwo kinds of trays 11, 12 are substantially identical in profile exceptfor the following points.

That is, pawls 11b, 12b that are touched by the operator's finger whenhe extracts these trays from the magazine 5 are located at differentpositions and arranged so as to be staggered from each other on a planeparallel to the main surface of the tray. Because of such aconstruction, when, for instance, the pawl 11b of the tray 11 istouched, the finger does not interfere with the pawl 12b of the othertray 12 adjacent to the tray 11, thereby making the operation ofinserting and releasing the trays to and from the magazine easy.

Further, on ends of each tray 11 or 12, or more specifically in thiscase, on the imaginary line that passes through the center of the diskcarrying surface along such surface, i.e., in a diagonal connecting twoopposite corners of the rectangular-plate-like tray or its vicinity, aretwo types of supported portions 11c, 11d or 12c, 12d for allowing aplurality of tray supporting arms to support each tray formed. The traysupporting arms constitute separating and positioning means (describedlater). As is apparent from FIGS. 6 (a) and (b) and FIGS. 7 (a) and (b),the supported portions 11c and 12c are grooves formed on the end surfaceof the tray. Also, as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and (c) and FIGS. 7 (a) and(c), the other supported portions 11d and 12d are formed by recessingthe main surface of the tray slightly deeper so that they are thinnerthan the other portions. These supported portions 11d and 12d do notnecessarily have to be formed thinner but may be as thick as the otherportions However, the thin arrangement contributes to making themagazine 5 thinner.

As is clear from the figures, the supported portions 11c, 11d formed onthe tray 11 and those 12c, 12d formed on the tray 12 adjacent to thetray 11 are arranged so as to be staggered from each other within aplane parallel to the main surface of the tray. That is, the supportedportions 11c, 11d and 12c, 12d are not aligned along a line vertical tothe main surface of each tray but are dispersed while staggered fromeach other along the main surface thereof. Such an arrangementcontributes to reducing the space to be provided within the playerhousing 2 so that each tray supporting arm (described later) will beoscillated to separate each tray in a direction vertical to the mainsurface thereof. This facilitates not only a reduction in the size or,more correctly, in the thickness of the magazine 5 in this direction butalso the thickness of the player as a whole.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a) to FIG. 7 (c), the trays 11, 12 respectively havenotches 11f, 11g, 12f, and 12g adjacent to the supported portions 11c,11d, 12c, and 12d. As will be described later, the notches help avoidinterference between the tray supporting arms constituting part of theseparating and positioning means (described later) and the traysadjacent to the tray supported thereby.

As is apparent from FIG. 6 (a) to FIG. 7 (c), on the main surface of thetray are round recesses 11h and 12h for positioning with the disk 9accommodated therein and openings 11i and 12i for allowing a clamper(described later) to be inserted. Also, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, on anend of the lower member 7 forming part of the housing of the magazine 5are supported portions 7a, 7b for being supported by the tray supportingarms (described later) of the separating and positioning means so as toprovide portions thinner than the other portions These supportedportions 7a, 7b do not necessarily have to be thin but may be as thickas the other portions.

As shown in FIG. 2, at corners of the inner wall in the lower member 7of the magazine 5 are two cylindrical members 16, 17 which are projectedsimilar to the cylindrical member 14. The trays 11, 12 are also movablein the axial direction of the cylindrical member 14 which rotatablysupports these trays, and the cylindrical member 14 acts not only as amember for axially supporting these trays but also as a member forguiding these trays so that they can be positioned in a planar manner.The arrangement in which a single cylindrical member 14 performs twofunctions contributes to eliminating one member from an arrangementwherein two members are required to perform such two functionsindividually.

As described above, the trays 11, 12 are ejected and accommodated intothe magazine 5 by being rotated around the cylindrical member 14. It isconceivable that the movement for the tray ejecting and accommodatingoperation is not necessarily limited to rotation of the trays and alinear shuttle movement thereof is also applicable. However, therotating operation is effective in always moving the trays smoothly,thereby improving the operability when the operator inserts or removesthe trays to or from the magazine to load or replace disks.

A lock mechanism for locking together the upper member 6 and lowermember 7 constituting the housing of the magazine 5 will now bedescribed.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, on the inner wall surface of the upper member6 is a movable, disk-like and annular holding member 19 which isrotatably mounted along the main surface of upper member 6. Inparticular, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, to the inner wall surface ofthe upper member 6 is a supporting member 20 secured on an upper endthereof by an adhesive or the like. The supporting member 20 issubstantially L-shaped in cross section as taken at a right angle to theannular center thereof. The movable holding member 19 is disposed so asto be interposed between the bottom side of the supporting member 20 andthe upper member 6 so that the movable holding member will beoscillatable around the inner periphery thereof. On the outer peripheryof the movable holding member 19 are three projections 19a to 19c, thetip of each projection being provided with a semi-circular notch 19d,19e, or 19f. These notches 19d to 19f are arranged so that they can besmoothly fitted with annular grooves 14 a, 16a, and 17a formed at thetip of the three cylindrical members 14, 16, and 17 as the held portionson the outer peripheral surfaces FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of thecylindrical member 14 and the projection 19a to be engaged therewith.The relationship between the other two cylindrical members 16, 17 andthe projections 19b, 19c is the same as above. That is, when the notches19d to 19f of the movable holding member arranged on the upper member 6are respectively fitted with the annular grooves 14a, 16a, and 17a ofthe cylindrical members 14, 16, and 17 secured to the lower member 7,the upper member 6 and the lower member 7 are locked together. Uponremoval of the fitted condition, both members become separable. The term"holding position" herein used means the position of the movable holdingmember 19 under the condition that the notches 19d to 19f are fittedwith the annular grooves 14a, 16a, and 17a, and the term "non-holdingposition" means the position of the movable holding member 19 whenreleased from such fitted condition.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the lower member 7 and adjacent to thecylindrical member 17 is a biasing lever 21 oscillatably providedthrough a supporting pin 21a. The biasing lever 21 serves to bias themovable holding member 19 in a direction of fitting the notches 19d to19f of the projections 19a to 19c with the annular grooves 14a, 16a, and17a of the cylindrical members 14, 16, and 17 (i.e., direction of arrowG) through its engagement with the one projection 19c of the movableholding member 19. Also, a spring member 22 for applying a biasing forceto the biasing lever 21 is inserted into the supporting pin 21a. Thebiasing lever 21 and the spring member 22 constitute biasing means forbiasing the movable holding member 19 toward the holding position. Thebiasing means, the movable holding member 19, and the three cylindricalmembers 14, 16, and 17 functioning as the supported portions with whichthe movable holding member 19 is engaged constitute the lock mechanismfor locking the upper and lower members 6, 7 together.

The provision of such a lock mechanism contributes to preventing theoperator from carelessly separating the upper member 6, the lower member7, and the accommodated trays during his handling the magazine 5 for thereplacement or loading of a disk to the magazine 5 once he has lockedthe upper and lower members 6, 7 together by operating the lockmechanism.

As described above, the lock mechanism is so constructed as to lock bothupper and lower members 6, 7 at three points simultaneously, therebyallowing respective parts of both upper and lower members 6, 7 to becombined together without any distortion. Further, the movable holdingmember 19 is constructed so as to be substantially disk-shaped androtated along the main surface of the upper member 6, thereby making thespace to be provided within the magazine 5 small to allow the operationof the movable holding member 19. Thus, such a construction contributesto miniaturization of not only the magazine 5 itself but also the playeras a whole. However, it goes without saying that the shape and movementof the movable holding member 19 is not limited to the above example butmay take various forms, e.g., an oscillatable arm-like structure or alinearly shuttlable lever-shaped structure.

Further, as described above, the three cylindrical members 14, 16, and17 serving as the axial support and guide for the trays also serve asthe mechanism for releasing the locking together of the upper and lowermembers 6, 7, and this allows the number of parts to be reduced.

The play means transfer mechanism that moves the play means including aturntable, a pickup, and a disk clamp mechanism to load the play meansto a disk to be played within the loaded magazine 5 will now bedescribed.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, the magazine 5 is loaded by inserting it tothe loading section within the player housing 2. The upper and lowermembers 6, 7, and the end in the direction of insertion and the lateralends of the trays 11, 12 constituting the magazine 5 are provided withnotches 6a, 6b, 7d, 11j, 11k, 12j, and 12k (see also FIGS. 1 and 2)which are linearly aligned in the direction of arraying the trays so asto generally form two grooves. The notches of the lower member 7 in thedirection of inserting the magazine are not shown.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, within the player housing 2 are two guideshafts 24, 25 arranged so as to extend vertically so that the guideshafts can be fitted with the two longitudinal grooves formed by thenotches. One guide shaft 25 is fixed on the player housing 2. The guideshafts 24, 25 serve to guide the trays 11, 12 and the lower member 7 inslidable contact therewith in a separating direction. The trays and thelower member 7 are separated from one another as will be describedlater. As shown in FIG. 13, which is a perspective view of the one guideshaft 24, close to the upper ends of both guide shafts 24, 25 arecollars 24a and 25a, which support the upper member 6 by fitting thenotches 6a, 6b of the upper member 6 with the upper ends of the guideshafts 24, 25, thereby regulating the downward movement of the uppermember 6. As described previously, while the guide shaft 25 is fixed onthe player housing 2, the other guide shaft 24 is not only projected onthe free end of a lever member 26 oscillatably arranged (i.e., swingableback and forth) through a supporting pin 26a on the player housing 2 butalso biased in a direction toward the magazine 5 by a spring member 27.Accordingly, the guide shaft 24 is retracted with the lever member 26being swung clockwise as viewed in FIG. 9 as the lever member 26 ispressed by the magazine 5 being inserted into the player housing 2. Theguide shaft 24 never blocks the insertion of the magazine 5 and isfitted with the notches of the magazine 5 as the lever member 26 isreturned to the original position by the biasing force of the springmember 27 upon completion of inserting the magazine 5.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 9, on the disk-like movable holding member 19,which locks the upper and lower members 6, 7 of the magazine 5 together,is another projection 19g formed adjacent to the projection 19aintegrally therewith. The projection 19a is one of the three projections19a to 19c. The guide shaft 25 presses the projection 19g as themagazine 5 has been loaded into the player housing 2 as described above.This causes the movable holding member 19 to rotate counterclockwise asviewed in the figures, the projections 19a to 19c of the movable holdingmember 19 are released from the three cylindrical members 14, 16, and 17held thereby, thus unlocking the upper member 6 from the lower member 7and making them separable.

The play means transfer mechanism to be described below not onlyseparates the upper and lower members 6, 7 of the magazine 5 thus madeseparable from each other but also separates the tray carrying the diskto be played from the other trays and then moves the play meansincluding a turntable and the like to the disk so as to be loadedthereto.

First, the separating and positioning means constituting part of theplay means transfer mechanism will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 9, 11, and 12, two disk-like movable cam members 29,30 are not only arranged within the player housing 2 so that the cammembers are respectively positioned behind and at the right (when viewedfrom within the player) of the loaded magazine 5 and each of their mainsurfaces extends in a vertical direction of separating the upper andlower members 6, 7 and the trays (the direction of arrow Z and thedirection opposite thereto) but also mounted so as to be rotatable withrespect to the player housing 2. The outer peripheral surface of eachcam member is formed into a worm wheel so that a torque will be providedthrough gears to be described below. As explicitly shown in FIG. 14, themain surface of the cam member 30 is provided with six cam grooves 30ato 30f, while the other cam member 29 is completely symmetrical with thecam member 30, and as is apparent from FIG. 12, six grooves similar tothose of the cam member 30 are formed on the surface thereof. Such anarrangement that the cam members 29, 30 are made in a thin, disk-likeform contributes to reducing the size of the space that they occupy,thereby increasing space utilization within the player housing andfacilitating the miniaturization of the player.

As shown in FIG. 9, at the back of the player housing 2 is a motor 32arranged so as to be interposed between the two cam members 29, 30. Asshown also in FIG. 12, the cam member 29 is rotated by a torque appliedby the motor 32 and transmitted through gears 32a, 33, 34, 35 and a worm36. Further, as shown also in FIG. 11, the other cam member 30 receivesfrom the motor 32 a torque that is sequentially transmitted through thegears 32a, 33, 37, 38 and a worm 39. Both cam members 29, 30 are drivenin synchronization at the same speed by these torque applying means.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 11, between the cam member 30 and the magazine 5is a flat bracket 41 that extends vertically (the bracket 41 is notshown in FIG. 11). The bracket 41 allows six tray supporting arms 43 to48 serving as tray supporting members to be oscillatably mountedvertically, i.e., in the direction of separating the lower member 7 andthe trays of the magazine 5, through supporting pins 43a to 48a on theends thereof. As shown in FIG. 11, on the other ends of the traysupporting arms 43 to 48 are pivotal supporting pins 43b to 48b insertedin parallel with the supporting pins 43a to 48a. Adjacent to the pivotalsupporting pins are six slide pieces 61 to 66 that are slidably guidedby seven guide shafts 51 to 57. The guide shafts are arranged so as toextend vertically. Each pivotal supporting pin is pivotally attached toeach slide piece. More specifically, the lateral side of each of theslide pieces 61 to 66 is provided with an oval groove that extendshorizontally and each pivotal supporting pin is slidably engaged withthis groove. The five slide pieces 61 to 65 from the top among the sixslide pieces respectively support the thin supported portions 11d, 12dformed on the trays 11, 12 within the magazine 5. The remaining slidepiece 66 supports the thin supported portion 7b formed on the lowermember 7 of the magazine 5.

At the center of each of the six tray supporting arms 43 to 48 are slidepins 43c to 48c serving as cam followers inserted in parallel with thesupporting pins 43a to 48a and the pivotal supporting pins 43b to 48b,and the upper ends of these slide pins are slidably engaged with the camgrooves 30a to 30f of the cam member 30 explicitly shown in FIG. 14.That is, the tray supporting arms 43 to 48 are constructed so as to beoscillated as necessary by the cam member 30 which is rotated by themotor 32. The oscillation timing of each tray supporting arm will bedescribed in detail later with reference to the operation thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, between the other cam member 29 and themagazine 5 is also a flat bracket 71 that is to be extended vertically.The bracket 71 allows six tray supporting arms 73 to 78 serving as traysupporting members to be oscillatably mounted vertically throughsupporting pins 73a to 78a on the ends thereof. As shown in FIG. 12, onthe other ends of the tray supporting arms 73 to 78 are pivotalsupporting pins 73b to 78b inserted in parallel with the supporting pins73a to 78a. The five pivotal supporting pins 73b to 77b from the topamong the six pivotal supporting pins are smoothly engaged with the ovalgrooves that are the supported portions 11c and 12b formed on the trays11, 12. Adjacent to the remaining pivotal supporting pin 78b is a slidepiece 81 slidably arranged along a guide shaft 80 to be extendedvertically. The pivotal supporting pin 78b is pivotally attached to theslide piece 81. More specifically, a horizontally extending oval grooveis formed on the lateral side of the slide piece 81, and the pivotalsupporting pin 78b is slidably engaged with this groove. The slide piece81 supports the thin supported portion 7a formed on the lower member 7of the magazine 5.

At the center of each of the six tray supporting arms 73 to 78 are slidepins 73c to 78c serving as cam followers inserted in parallel with thesupporting pins 73a to 78a and the pivotal supporting pins 73b to 78b,and the upper ends of the slide pins are slidably engaged with six camgrooves provided on the main surface of the cam member 29. That is, thetray supporting arms 73 to 78 are constructed so as to be oscillated insynchronism with the other tray supporting arms 43 to 48 by the cammember 29 which is rotated by the motor 32.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, the cam member 29 has, on the surfaceopposite to its cam surface, an arcuate address plate 83 firmly fixedconcentrically therewith. The address plate 83 has six slits 83a formedwith the rotation angle, 30°, of the cam member 29 being one pitch. Todetect each slit, there is a photosensor 84 secured to the playerhousing 2 through a bracket 85. The address plate 83 and the photosensor84 serve to detect the positions of the angle of rotation of both cammembers 29, 30, i.e., the oscillating positions of the tray supportingarms 43 to 48 and 73 to 78.

The motor 32, the gears 32a, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 38, and the worms 36,39 constitute drive force applying means for applying a drive force toboth cam members 29, 30, and the drive force applying means, togetherwith the cam members 29, 30, constitutes supporting arm drive means,i.e., supporting member drive means, for oscillating the tray supportingarms 43 to 48 and 73 to 78. Also, the supporting arm drive means and thetray supporting arms constitute the separating and positioning means fornot only separating the upper member 6 from the lower member 7 of themagazine 5 but also selecting a tray carrying a desired disk among thetrays contained in the magazine 5 to thereby separate the selected trayfrom other trays in a direction vertical with respect to the mainsurface of the tray and position the separated tray. This separating andpositioning means may herein be referred to as the "disk supportingmeans" whenever applicable. That is, a disk to be played, which iscarried on a tray, is separated

from the other trays and properly positioned and held by the separatingand positioning means. Then, the play means, including a turntable,approaches the disk in a position to be loaded thereto and to startplaying.

The separating and positioning means will now be described in moredetail.

As described previously, the separating and positioning means has twogroups of tray supporting arms, each group consisting of six arms andbeing driven by the cam member 29 or 30. The trays in the magazine 5 aresupported by the groups of tray supporting arms at the supportedportions 11c, 11d and 12c, 12d formed on the imaginary line passingthrough the center of the disk carrying surface of the tray along such adisk carrying surface or on the ends adjacent thereto. In other words,each tray that is formed as a rectangular plate is supported by eachgroup of tray supporting arms on a diagonal connecting two oppositecorners thereof or adjacent to such diagonal. On the other hand, themagazine 5 and the player housing 2 enclosing the magazine 5 are formedas rectangular pillars. In such a structure as therectangular-pillar-like magazine 5 enclosed by therectangular-pillar-like player housing 2, the distribution of the twosets of tray supporting arms to the opposite corners of each tray, i.e.,adjacent to the two opposite corners of the entire magazine 5, mayprovide a comparatively large space at a portion located in the middleof both groups of tray supporting arms, i.e., at the corner portion inthe back Of the player housing 2. Accordingly, such space mayaccommodate the supported arm drive means including the cam members 29,30 and the motor 32 efficiently.

As described above, there are two sets of tray supporting arms, each setconsisting of six tray supporting arms, and each tray is supported atthe two points adjacent to the diagonal thereof by the tray supportingarms so that the trays can be separated in a direction vertical to theirdisk carrying surface. However, as described previously, each tray isguided by the two guide shafts 24, 25 properly following thepredetermined path. Therefore, it is not necessary to support each trayat the two points and it may be possible to leave each tray supported atonly one point by either one of the two sets of tray supporting arms,e.g., the tray supporting arms 43 to 48, to apply a moving force. Thus,the remaining set of tray supporting arms, or the tray supporting arms73 to 78, results in functioning as tray inclination regulating means bysupporting each tray in cooperation with the other set of traysupporting arms so that each tray is parallelly moved without beinginclined. The tray supporting arms 43 to 48 may herein be referred to asthe "first tray supporting member" and the tray supporting arms 73 to 78which form the other set as the "second tray supporting member" wheneverapplicable.

The provision of such tray inclination regulating means allows the trayto move in parallel at all times without being inclined, therebypreventing the disk on the tray from being displaced from the properposition by the inclined tray and always performing the loading of theplay means, including a turntable, to the disk properly and smoothly.

Since the function of the drive force applying means for applying adrive force to the tray supporting arms 73 to 78 serving as the trayinclination regulating means is generally assumed by the motor 32 thatdrives the tray supporting arms 43 to 48 governing the operation ofseparating the trays, it is not necessary to provide the drive forceapplying means dedicated to the tray inclination regulating means,thereby reducing the drive source.

Here, the construction of a set of tray supporting arms will bedescribed in more detail. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 11, the six traysupporting arms 43 to 48, which is one set of tray supporting armsdisposed at the side of the magazine 5 are arranged in a staggeredfashion so as to be oscillatable along two imaginary planes that aredifferent from each other. That is, the six tray supporting arms aredistributed into two subsets; the tray supporting arms 43, 45, 47forming one subset and the remaining three tray supporting arms 44, 46,48 forming another subset. Thus, the above-noted planes, along whichthese subsets of tray supporting arms, move in a staggered fashion withrespect to a horizontal plane. Because of such a construction, if it isso arranged that the two planes overlap one upon the other on ahorizontal plane, such an arrangement will allow a projection area ofeach plane required for the movement of the trays, thereby facilitatingminiaturization of the player as a whole, compared to the constructionwherein all the tray supporting arms 43 to 48 are moved along one commonimaginary plane.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, between the one subset of tray supportingarms 43, 45, 47 and the other subset of tray supporting arms 44, 46, 48,both being arranged in a staggered fashion on a horizontal plane asdescribed above, is a partition member 88 interposed so as to partitionthese two subsets. The partition member 88 guides the tray supportingarms in both subsets properly, thereby preventing any interferencebetween these two subsets of tray supporting arms and allowing theoperation to be performed smoothly.

On the other hand, as is clear from FIGS. 9 and 12, the six traysupporting arms 73 to 78 disposed at the rear of the magazine 5 are,similar to the tray supporting arms 43 to 48, distributed into twosubsets. These two subsets are arranged in a staggered fashion withrespect to a horizontal plane, interposing a partition member 89therebetween.

Although, as described above, the tray supporting arms 43 to 48 and 73to 78 are formed so as to be oscillatable, their movement is not limitedto oscillation but may be some other movement such as parallel movement.However, the arrangement allowing oscillation, such as above, providesthe advantage that the tray supporting arms can always be operatedproperly and smoothly.

The mechanism constituting the play means transfer mechanism togetherwith the separating and positioning means will now be described.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 9, 15, and 16, in the player housing 2 is acylindrical supporting shaft 95 extended in a vertical direction, i.e.,in a direction of separating the trays so as to be positioned at theleft of the loaded magazine 5 (as viewed from within the playerhousing). The cylindrical supporting shaft 95 is secured to a lower endportion of the player housing 2. On the supporting shaft 95 is acylindrical male screw 96 rotatably fitted therewith from outside. Atthe upper end of the male screw 96, a flat-plate-like longitudinallymovable carrying member 98 is fitted at an end thereof. The movablecarrying member 98 extends horizontally. That is, the movable carryingmember 98 is not only pivotable around the supporting shaft 95 in adirection perpendicular to the direction of separating the trays butalso movable along the supporting shaft 95. The movable carrying member98 also oscillates (i.e., moves back and forth) between the insertingposition that allows it to be inserted between the separating trays andthe non-inserting position that allows it to depart from the trays. Theinserting position is the position of the movable carrying member 98shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 and by the solid line in FIG.9, and the non-inserting position is the position shown by the solidline in FIG. 2 and by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9. The insertingposition may also be referred to as the confronting position since themovable carrying member 98 can confront the recording surface of thedisk 9 placed on the tray when the movable carrying member 98 is in thisposition. Also, the non-inserting position may likewise be referred toas the non-confronting position. The movable carrying member 98 can movealong the supporting shaft 95 between the low position shown by thesolid line and the high position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.15.

Adjacent to the oscillating end of the movable carrying member 98 is aturntable 100. On the movable carrying member 98 are a guide shaft 101and a worm 102 arranged in parallel with each other along the lengththereof. One end 103b of a carriage 103 is screwed in the worm 102,while the other end thereof is slidably supported by the guide shaft101. However, the guide shaft 101 and the worm 102 are not shown in FIG.2.

The carriage 103 has a built-in optical pickup including an objectivelens 105 (shown in FIG. 9). Although the optical pickup, being the sameas those of the known type, will not be described in detail, it includesa servo-mechanism for servo-driving the objective lens 105 in bothfocusing and tracking directions, and reads recorded data bytransmitting a laser beam from a laser beam injecting device onto therecording surface of a disk and detecting a change in light reflectedtherefrom. As shown in FIG. 9, the movable carrying member 98 isprovided with a substantially rectangular opening 98a for allowing theobjective lens 105 to access the recording surface of the disk 9. Asshown in FIGS. 9 and 16, the guide shaft 101 guiding the carriage 103 isarranged within another thin elongated opening 98b, and the opening 98bis used as space for accommodating the guide shaft 101. Accordingly, thespace to be occupied by the guide shaft 101 is reduced and thiscontributes to miniaturization of the player.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 16, the worm 102 is rotated by a motor 108arranged on the side of the base end of the movable carrying member 98receiving a torque through a power transmission mechanism 109 formed ofa plurality of pulleys and two belts installed thereon. As shown in FIG.9, on the oscillating end of the movable carrying member 98 is adetection switch 111 for detecting the arrival of the carriage 103 atits movement limit position closest to the turntable 100 upon operationof the carriage 103 which is triggered by its engagement with anoperating strip 111a. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, on the movablecarrying member 98 and adjacent to the detection switch 111 is aphotosensor 112, and as shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, an address plate 113formed of five vertically juxtaposed slits 113a detectable by thephotosensor 112 when the movable carrying member 98 is in thenon-inserting position is mounted on the left inner wall surface of theplayer housing 2.

The guide shaft 101, the worm 102, the motor 108, the power transmissionmechanism 109, and the detection switch 111 constitute pickup guidedrive means for guiding the carriage 103 with the pickup mounted thereonto bring it closer to or retract it from the turntable 100.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 16, along the lower surface of the movablecarrying member 98 is a clamper arm 115, which is pivotally mounted on asuspended portion 98d by a supporting pin 116 at one end thereof. Thesuspended portion 98d is formed so as to be extended downward adjacentto the base end of the movable carrying member 98. The clamper arm 115is pivoted within a plane including a vertical direction. On theoscillating end of the clamper arm 115 is disposed a clamping member117, or a clamper, rotatably mounted through a spherical bearing 118(shown in FIG. 16) or the like, for clamping the disk 9 to be playedonto the disk carrying surface of the turntable 100.

The clamper arm 115, the clamping member 118, and their fittingsconstitute a disk clamp mechanism for clamping the disk 9 onto the diskcarrying surface of the turntable 100. Further, the disk clampmechanism, the turntable 100, the optical pickup including the carriage103, and the pickup guide drive means comprising the guide shaft 101,the worm 102, and the motor 108 are collectively referred to as the playmeans. That is, the movable carrying member 98 serves to oscillate theplay means by carrying it.

The carrying member drive means for oscillating the movable carryingmember 98 and moving it along the supporting shaft 95 that is thesupporting shaft for oscillation will next be described.

FIG. 15 is a view taken along the line XV--XV of FIG. 9 including apartial section. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 15, arranged in the front andrear of the supporting shaft 95 for supporting the movable carryingmember 98 are motors 121 and 122, respectively. The motor 121 disposedto the rear of the supporting shaft 95 serves to move the movablecarrying member 98 along the supporting shaft 95, while the motor 122disposed to the front is to oscillate or pivot the movable carryingmember 98. As will be described later, the motor 122 provides a driveforce also for the disk clamp mechanism.

As is clear from FIG. 15, a cylindrical female screw 123 is screwed ontothe male screw 96 that carries the movable carrying member 98 by beingrotatably and slidably fitted with the supporting shaft 95. At the lowerend of the female screw 123 is a gear 123a formed integrally therewith.A torque from the motor 121 is transmitted to the gear 123a and thefemale screw 123 sequentially through gears 124, 135a, a worm wheel125b, a worm 126, and gears 127, 128.

On the other hand, a cylindrical member 130 is rotatably fitted with thefemale screw 123 from outside, and on the upper end of the cylindricalmember 130 a column-like pin 130a is projected. The pin 130a is insertedinto a circular opening 98f formed on the movable carrying member 98with a predetermined clearance. On the lower end of the cylindricalmember 130 is a gear 130b formed integrally therewith, and a torque fromthe motor 122 is transmitted to the gear 130b and the cylindrical member130 sequentially through a gear 132, a face gear 133, a worm 134, a wormwheel 135a, a gear 135b, and gears 136, 137. The gears 136, 137 are notintegral with each other but are pivotally supported concentrically by ashaft 139, and as shown also in FIG. 17, a pin 137a which projects fromthe upper main surface of the lower gear 137 is slidably fitted with anarcuate groove 136a formed on the lower main surface of the upper gear136. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a spring member 140 is fitted with thesupporting shaft 95 for axially supporting the movable carrying member98. The spring member 140 serves as biasing force applying means forapplying a biasing force toward the non-inserting position, i.e., theposition indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9.

The motors 121, 122, the gears 123a, 124, 125a, the worm wheel 125b, theworm 126, the gears 127, 128, the pin 130a, the gears 130b, 132, theface gear 133, the worm 134, the worm wheel 135a, the gears 135b, 136,137, and the pin 137a constitute the torque applying means for applyinga torque selectively to each of the female screw 123 and the cylindricalmember 130. Also, the torque applying means, the female screw 123, thecylindrical member 130, and the male screw 96 constitute the carryingmember drive means for causing the movable carrying member 98 tooscillate or pivot around and move along the supporting shaft 95.Further, the carrying member drive means, the movable carrying member98, the supporting shaft 95, the separating and positioning means, andthe spring member 140 for applying a biasing force to the movablecarrying member 98 constitute the play means transfer mechanism formoving the play means made up of the turntable 100 and the like andloading it to a disk to be played.

Although, as described above, the movable carrying member 98 is to beoscillated, the movement of the movable carrying member 98 is notlimited to oscillation but may be various other movements includingparallel movement. However, the arrangement for oscillation allows themovable carrying member 98 to always be operated properly and smoothly.

Further, as described above, not only the movable carrying member 98 isoscillatably mounted on the supporting shaft 95 so that the movablecarrying member can be oscillated between the inserting positionallowing the insertion of the movable carrying member 98 between thetrays within the magazine 5 and the non-inserting position but also themovable carrying member 98 is movable in the axial direction of thesupporting shaft 95 so that the play means is brought into a positioncorresponding to the tray separated from the other trays. As a result ofsuch a construction, it is possible to achieve reduction in the size ofthe player as a whole. The reason why such a construction isadvantageous is as follows. As another construction that allows themovable carrying member 98 to be movable in two different directions, itis conceivable, for example, that the movable carrying member 98 ismounted on the supporting shaft 95 so as to be only oscillatable, and apredetermined moving member that is movable in the direction ofseparating the trays is provided to have the supporting shaft 95 mountedthereon. However, such a conceivable construction requires not only themoving member but also a guide mechanism for movably guiding the movingmember in the direction of separating the trays, unlike the presentembodiment, thereby increasing not only the number of parts but also thesize of the player as a whole.

Further, as is apparent from FIG. 9, the supporting shaft 95 serving asthe center of oscillation for the movable carrying member 98 ispositioned in front than a portion where the trays are supported by thetray supporting arms 73 to 78 that forms the disk supporting means;i.e., the supporting shaft 95 is positioned further in front than thesupported portions 11c, 12c of the trays and located in a positioncloser to the insertion opening 3a for loading of the magazine 5 formedon the player housing 2 than these supported portions. Such anarrangement of the center of oscillation for the movable carrying member98 allows a relatively large space to be provided in the middle and theback of the player housing 2. This provides the space for mounting thecarrying member drive

means and other mechanisms for operating the movable carrying member 98,thereby providing a higher degree of freedom in selecting theinstallation position of the mechanisms within the player.

Here, the manner in which the disk clamp mechanism is operated also withthe power produced by the motor 122 for oscillating the movable carryingmember 98 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 9, 16, and 17, on the lower surface of the base end ofthe movable carrying member 98 is an intermediate lever 142 pivotallymounted by a screw 142a (shown in FIG. 16) within a horizontal plane atthe middle thereof. And a cam portion 136b is formed integrally with thegear 136 on the upper surface of the gear constituting the powertransmitting mechanism for transmitting the power from the motor 122 tothe movable carrying member 98, and the cam surface of the cam portion136b can be in slidable contact with a suspended portion 142b (see FIG.16 only in which the reference numeral is given) formed on oneoscillating end of the intermediate lever 142. As shown in FIG. 16, thesuspended portion 142b is formed also on the other oscillating end ofthe intermediate lever 142, and a projection 142c arranged on thesuspended portion 142b is abutted against a suspended portion 115aformed on the clamper arm 115 constituting the disk clamp mechanism.That is, the cam portion 136b integral with the gear 136 is rotatedforward and backward by the power applied from the motor 122 and the camsurface of the cam portion 136b is abutted against one of the suspendedportions of the intermediate lever 142 thereby to clamp the suspendedportion, whereby the intermediate lever 142 is oscillated around thescrew 142a pivotally supporting it, while the projection 142c providedon the other oscillating end of the intermediate lever 142 clamps thesuspended portion 115a of the clamper arm 115 thereby to clamp the disk.

FIG. 18 shows the construction of a control unit for controlling theoperation of the internal mechanisms within the multidisk-containingplayer thus constructed. A CPU (central processing unit) 150 applies aninstruction to the motors 32, 108, 121, 122, the turntable 100, and apickup 155 according to respective signals from the photosensors 84,112, and a keyboard 152 including the detection switch 111 and a groupof switches (not shown) in cooperation with a RAM 153 based on a controlprogram preset in a ROM 151.

An example of the control program will be described with reference tothe flow charts shown in FIGS. 19 to 21 and the diagrams explaining theoperation shown in FIGS. 22 to 27.

First, when a play instruction has been applied to play a desired diskand a piece of music to be played has been selected with the operationof the keyboard 152 (shown in FIG. 18) by an operator, themultidisk-containing player operates according to the flow charts shownin FIGS. 19 to 21.

As shown in FIG. 19, when the play instruction has been issued and themusic to be played has been selected (Step S1), the control unitconfirms that the magazine 5 has been loaded into the player housing 2with a detection signal applied from magazine detection means (notshown) (Step S2). If the magazine 5 has been loaded, the control unitcauses each internal mechanism to operate by executing a first loadingsubroutine shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 (Step S3). In executing the firstloading subroutine, the magazine 5 is only loaded in the player housing2 and the lower and upper members 7, 6 of the magazine 5 have not yetbeen separated from each other.

Upon having the operator load the magazine 5 into the player housing 2,the guide shaft 25 shown in FIG. 9 clamps the projection 19g of themovable holding member 19 locking the upper and lower members 6, 7together with the reaction of the lo loading force. This causes themovable holding member 19 to rotate counterclockwise as viewed in FIGS.2 and 9, and the projections 19a to 19c of the movable holding member 19detach from the three cylindrical members 14, 16, 17 held thereby. As aresult, the locking of the upper and lower members 6, 7 is released,thereby leaving both members separable. Under this condition, themovable carrying member 98 having the play means including the turntable100 mounted thereon is set to the non-insertion position shown by thetwo-dot chain line in FIG. 9.

When the magazine 5 is loaded into the player housing 2, the trays andthe supported portions of the lower member 7 are respectively supportedby the tray supporting arms 43 to 48 and 73 to 78.

As shown in FIG. 20, upon issuance of the instruction, the control unitcauses the motor 32 to rotate forward (Step S4) to displace the two cammembers 29, 30 only at an angle of θ, e.g., 30° , thereby to cause thetray supporting arms 43 to 48 and 73 to 78 to oscillate from the stateshown in FIGS. 11 and 12 to that shown in FIG. 22. Accordingly, thelower member 7 of the magazine 5 is moved downward and separated fromthe upper member 6. As shown in FIG. 22, at the same time with theseparation of the lower member 7 from the upper member 6, the lowermosttray 11 among the five trays accommodated in the magazine 5 is separatedfrom the other trays and brought into a position corresponding to theplay means including the turntable 100.

In the case where the disk having a selected piece of music is carriedby the third tray 11 from the bottom among the five arrayed trays, themotor 32 is further rotated forward (Step S5) and both cam members 29,30 are displaced at 60° in synchronism therewith thereby to change thestate of the tray from that shown in FIG. 22 to that shown in FIG. 24through the state shown in FIG. 23. As a result, the tray 11 carryingthe desired disk is separated from the other trays. In association withthe tray separation operation, the motor 121 is rotated forward (StepS5) to move the movable carrying member 98 carrying the play meansupward from the lowermost position by the distance equivalent to thethickness of two trays and to set it at a position corresponding to thetray 11 separated from the other trays. The angles of rotation of bothcam members 29, 30 and the distance the movable carrying member 98 movesupward are detected on the basis of the value counted by a counter ofthe control unit, which counts the address plate 83 and the number ofslits 83a, 113a detected by the two photosensors 84, 112. The aboveoperation is performed by comparing the address of a tray currentlycorresponding to the play means, i.e., the current disk address, withthe address of the search disk, which is a disk in search.

When the current disk address coincides with the search disk address(Step S6), the motors 32, 121 are stopped (Step S7). Then, the motor 122is rotated forward (Step S8) not only to cause the play means tooscillate the movable carrying member 98 from the non-inserting positionshown by the two-dot chain line to the inserting position shown by thesolid line in FIG. 9 but also to load the turntable 100 to the disk sothat the disk will be played by operating the disk clamp mechanism. Thisoperation will further be described in detail.

As described previously, the output of the motor 122 for oscillating themovable carrying member 98 is applied to the movable carrying member 98sequentially through the gear 132, the face gear 133, the worm 134, theworm wheel 135a, the gears 137, 130b, the cylindrical member 137a, andpin 130a. Before the motor 122 starts to rotate forward, both thearcuate groove 136a formed on the lower main surface of the gear 136 andthe pin 137a inserted into the upper main surface of the gear 137 to beslidably fitted with the groove 136a are in such a positionalrelationship as shown in FIG. 17. When the motor 122 starts rotatingforward under this condition, the movable carrying member 98, beingbiased toward the inserting position (the oscillating position shown bythe solid line in FIG. 9) by the spring member 140 mounted on thesupporting shaft 95 supporting the movable carrying member 98, isoscillated by the biasing force of the spring member 140. Accordingly,the two gears 136, 137 are rotated in synchronization while maintainingtheir relative positional relationship as shown in FIG. 17 with thearcuate grooves 136a, 137a arranged thereon. That is, the movablecarrying member 98 that is oscillatable by the biasing force of thespring member 140 is only ready to be oscillated by the rotation of themotor 122. Thus, when the movable carrying member 98 is moved up to theinserting position shown by the solid line in FIG. 9, as shown therein,the periphery of the movable carrying member 98 is abutted against acolumn-like stopper 158 to bring the movable carrying member 98 into theinserting position. If the two gears 136, 137 are formed integrally witheach other, the operation of the power transmission system includingthese two gears is blocked at this stage. However, as described before,both gears 136, 137 remain relatively rotatable within the range inwhich the pin 137a slides along the arcuate groove 136a.

The motor 122 continues rotating forward even after the movable carryingmember 98 has been positioned, and as a result, the gear 136 is rotatedrelative to the other gear 137 that is fixed. As described previously,on the upper main surface of the this gear 136 is the cam member 136bformed integrally therewith, so that, as the gear 136 rotates, the cammember 136b comes into slidable contact with the intermediate lever 142thereby to oscillate it as shown in FIG. 27. Accordingly, the suspendedportion 115a of the clamper arm 115 shown in FIG. 16 is clamped by theprojection 142c of the intermediate lever 142 thereby to oscillate theclamper arm 115 from the non-clamp position shown by the two-dot chainline to the clamp position shown by the solid line (in the direction ofarrow H), and the clamping member 117, or the clamper, pushes up thedisk 9 thereby to detach it from the tray and clamps it to the turntable100. The cam member 136b is rotated forward and backward after themovable carrying member 98 has reached the inserting position, therebypreventing interference between the maximum diameter of the cam member136b and the intermediate lever 142. Also, if the clamp is operatedwhile rotating the turntable 100, clamping errors will be reduced.

After the above operation has been performed, the control unit waits fora predetermined time period (shown by Step S9 in FIG. 20). As a result,the control unit confirms that the oscillation of the movable carryingmember 98 and the operation of the disk clamp mechanism have beencompleted, and stops the motor 122 (Step S10). Thereafter, the controlunit causes not only the servo-drive means (not shown) of the objectivelens 105 included in the pickup and the like to be operated but also themotor 108 to be rotated forward (Step S11) to start moving the carriage103 with the built-in pickup and start playing the disk.

Upon confirmation of the end of play of the first disk (Step S12), thecontrol unit halts the forward rotation of the motor 108 for driving thecarriage 103 and the operation of the pickup, and immediately causes themotor 108 to rotate backward (Step S13). This backward rotation of themotor 108 causes the carriage 103 to come closest to the turntable 100mounted on the oscillating end of the movable carrying member 98. Whenthe carriage 103 has come closest to the turntable 100, the projectionformed on the carriage 103 comes in engagement with the operating strip111a of the detection switch 111 shown in FIG. 9 to operate thedetection switch 111. Based on a detection signal applied from thedetection switch 111, the control unit confirms that the carriage 103has come closest to the turntable 100 (Step S14), and in responsethereto, stops the motor 108 to stop the carriage 103 (Step S15).

After the above operation has been performed, the control unit causesnot only the motor 122 to rotate backward (Step S16) to release the diskclamp mechanism but also the movable carrying member 98 to oscillatefrom the inserting position shown by the solid line to the non-insertingposition shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9. Since the operationsof releasing the disk clamp mechanism and returning the movable carryingmember 98 can be performed by reversing the operations of clamping thedisk and oscillating the movable carrying member 98 to the insertingposition, no further description thereof will herein be given.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the movable carrying member 98 returns to thenon-inserting position, the photosensor 112 arranged on the oscillatinggroove portion of the movable carrying member 98 detects its arrival ata position where the address plate 113 can be detected. The control unitconfirms that the returning operation of the movable carrying member 98has been completed, e.g., on the basis of a detection signal appliedfrom the photosensor 112 (Step S17), and stops the movable carryingmember 98 by interrupting the motor 122 (Step S18).

By the way, as is apparent from the above description, in themultidisk-containing player the carriage 103 on the movable carryingmember 98 is brought into a position closest to the turntable 100 priorto its returning to the non-inserting position, i.e., non-confrontingposition with respect to the disk having being played, after the end ofplaying the disk.

Such a construction allows miniaturization of the player. Because, asshown by the embodiment, the player housing 2 is generallyrectangular-pillar-like and the disk contained therein is circular, andthis provides a relatively large space at the four corners in the playerhousing 2. Accordingly, if it is constructed that when the longitudinalmovable carrying member 98 is in the non-confronting position, themovable carrying member 98 is positioned close to the inner wall surfaceof the player housing 2 so as to be along such a surface, the end of themovable carrying member 98 is naturally accommodated in any space at thefour corners. Thus, if the movable carrying member 98 returns to thenon-inserting position after the carriage 103 has been moved to the endof the movable carrying member 98 upon the end of the play as describedabove, the space at the corners can be utilized to accommodate thecarriage 103 during the non-play time, thereby increasing utilization ofthe space within the player housing 2 and facilitating miniaturizationof the player.

By following a series of operations described above, the playing of asingle disk is completed.

As shown in FIG. 19, the control unit confirms whether there still is adesignated disk after the completion of the above operations (Step S20).If there are two or more designated disks, the second loading subroutineshown in FIGS. 19 and 21 is executed (Step S21) to cause the internalmechanisms to operate.

In the second loading subroutine, the control unit first confirms thatthe second disk to be played is to be positioned either upward ordownward relative to the disk which has completed the play (Step S22).If the tray carrying the disk designated as the second disk is the tray11 positioned uppermost among the five arrayed trays, the control unitcauses the motor 32 to rotate forward (Step S23) and the two cam members29, 30 to rotate 60° forward thereby to change the state of the trayfrom that shown in FIG. 24 to that shown in FIG. 26 through the stateshown in FIG. 25 and to separate the uppermost tray 11 from the othertrays. Also, in association with the tray separating operation, themotor 121 is rotated forward (Step S23) to raise the movable carryingmember 98 carrying the play means by the distance equivalent to thethickness of two trays from the position set by the first loadingsubroutine, thereby locating the movable carrying member 98 in aposition corresponding to the uppermost tray 11 separated from the othertrays.

On the other hand, if the second disk to be played is carried by, e.g.,the tray 12, the second tray from the top (the fourth from the bottom)among the five arrayed trays, the control unit causes the motor 32 torotate backward (Step S24) to change the state of the tray from thatshown in FIG. 24 to that shown in FIG. 23 thereby to separate this tray12, which is the second tray from the top, from the other trays.Further, in association with the tray separating operation, the controlunit causes the motor 121 to rotate backward (Step S24) to lower themovable carrying member 98 from the position set by the first loadingsubroutine by the distance equivalent to the thickness of one tray andlocates the play means in a position corresponding to the tray 12, thesecond tray from the top.

When the current disk address coincides with the address of the seconddisk to be played which is the search disk (Step S25), the motors 32,121 are stopped (Step S26) and thereafter the mechanisms are operatedbased on Steps S27 to S37 which are similar to Steps S8 to S18 in thefirst loading subroutine thereby to start playing the second disk.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 19, the control unit checks whether thereare any disks, third and so on, not having been played (Step S40), andif there are three or more designated disks, the control unit causesthese disks to be played according to the second loading subroutine.When the playing of the designated disks has been completed, the controlunit either puts all the mechanisms in a waiting state or brings theiroperation to an end.

As is apparent from FIGS. 22 to 26, it is so constructed that, among thetray supporting arms 43 to 48 and 73 to 78, a half of the free end ofthe tray supporting arm supporting the tray separated from the othertrays can be placed in parallel with the supported trays. For example,in FIG. 25, the tray supporting arm 44 supporting the tray 12, thesecond tray from the top, separated from the other trays, has aboutone-half of its free end placed in parallel with the supported tray 12.Because of such a construction, the play means including the turntable100 and the movable carrying member 98 having the play means mountedthereon can always be inserted into the trays smoothly withoutinterference with the tray supporting arms, thereby ensuring that theplay means can be loaded to the disk properly and smoothly.

As seen from the foregoing description, in the multidisk containingplayer of the present invention, the magazine comprises: a housingincluding an upper half portion and a lower half portion, both portionsbeing separable from each other; and a plurality of plate-like traysbeing arrayed within the housing and ejectable from and retractable intothe housing along the main surfaces of the trays, the trays respectivelycarrying data recording disks on the main surfaces. The player furthercomprises: separating/positioning means for separating the upper andlower half portions in response to a playing instruction, selecting thetray carrying a desired disk from among the trays, holding the selectedtray, and separating the selected tray from the remaining trays in thedirection orthogonal to the main surface of the tray to position theselected tray. The player includes movable carrying means for carryingthe playing means including a turntable, a pickup, and a disk clampmechanism, the movable carrying means being swingable, by means of asupport shaft, between an insertion position, which allows the movablecarrying means to be inserted between the trays, and a noninsertionposition in the direction orthogonal to the tray separation direction.The movable carrying means is also movable along the axis of the supportshaft. The player also includes drive means for swinging and moving themovable carrying means; wherein after the tray carrying a disk to beplayed is separated from the other tray by the separating/positioningmeans, the movable carrying member is inserted between the trays, theplaying means is loaded to the disk and they are clamped by a disk clampmechanism, and the pickup is operated to start the playing of theselected disk.

In the multidisk containing player thus arranged, the space to beprovided within the player housing is very small. The size of the entireplayer is reduced. Accordingly, the player can be installed in a limitedspace such as is formed in the dashboard of a car.

As described above, the movable carrying member is so coupled with thesupport shaft as to be swung between the insertion position, whichallows the movable carrying member to be inserted between the trays, andthe noninsertion position. Further, the movable carrying member ismovable along the axis of the support shaft so as to bring the playingmeans to a location corresponding to the tray separated from theremaining trays. With these features, the size of the entire player isreduced.

A structural arrangement is conceivable where the movable carryingmember is only swingably mounted on the support shaft. A moving memberthat is movable in the tray separation direction is provided in order tomove the support shaft in the tray separation direction. The supportshaft is carried on the moving member. When compared with the structuralarrangement of the present invention, the moving member and a guidemechanism for guiding it in the tray separation direction areadditionally required. This results in an increased number of parts, anda bulky player.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multidisk containing player comprising playingmeans including a turntable, a pickup, and a disk clamp mechanism, saidplaying means being provided within a player housing, a magazineaccommodating a plurality of disks and being removably mounted on amounting portion as installed within said player housing, and a transfermechanism for transferring said playing means toward a disk to be playedand loading said playing means to said disk to be played, whereinsaidmagazine comprises: a housing including an upper half portion and alower half portion, both portions being separable from each other; and aplurality of plate-like trays having main surfaces and being arrayedwithin said housing and ejectable from and retractable into said housingalong the main surfaces of said trays, said trays respectively carryingdata recording disks on the main surfaces, and said transfer mechanismcomprises: separating/positioning means for separating the upper andlower half portions, selecting a tray carrying a desired disk from amongsaid trays, holding the selected tray, and separating the selected trayfrom the remaining trays in a tray separation direction orthogonal tothe main surface of said tray to position said selected tray; movablecarrying means for carrying said playing means; a support shaftsupporting said movable carrying means, said movable carrying meansbeing swingable about an axis between an insertion position, whichallows said movable carrying means to be inserted between said trays,and a noninsertion position in a direction orthogonal to said trayseparation direction, and said movable carrying means being movablealong the axis of said support shaft; and drive means for swinging andmoving said movable carrying means.
 2. The multidisk containing playeraccording to claim 1, wherein said drive means includes a cylindricalmale screw rotatably and slidably fit around said support shaft andsecured to said movable carrying means, a female screw engaging withsaid male screw, a cylindrical member rotatably fit around said malescrew and which is pivotally coupled at one end with a free end of saidmovable carrying means, and torque applying means for selectivelyapplying a torque to said male screw and said cylindrical member.
 3. Themultidisk containing player according to claim 2, wherein said movablecarrying means is a flat-plate-like member.
 4. The multidisk containingplayer according to claim 2, wherein said torque applying means includesa motor.